Amaranthus from the Greek 'a' meaning not and 'marantos' meaning withering, a name used for an everlasting flower. Macrocarpus from the Latin 'macros' meaning large and 'carpos' meaning fruit.

Distribution:

Few collections from the Innamincka and Murray regions in South Australia, growing on floodplain. Also found in Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

Status:

Native. Rare in South Australia. Rare in Northern Territory and Victoria. Uncommon in Queensland. Common in New South Wales.

Plant description:

Prostrate to decumbent, glabrous annual with stems to 40 cm long. Leaves long-petiolate, elliptic to obovate to 20 mm long and 15 mm wide. Flowers unisexual, in axillary clusters. Flowering between December and March.

Collect mature capsules, those that are turning black and contain hard seeds. Whole stem containing many clusters of fruit can be collected.

Seed cleaning:

Place the capsules/stems in a tray and leave to dry for two weeks. Then rub the capsules/stems gently by hand to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieve to separate the unwanted material. Be very careful as the seeds are very small. Store the seeds with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place.

Seed viability:

From one collection, the seed viability was high, at 95%.

Seed germination:

Seeds are non-dormant, viable seed should germinate readily.

Seeds stored:

Location

No. of seeds(weight grams)

Numberof plants

Datecollected

Collection numberCollection location

Datestored

% Viability

Storagetemperature

BGA

54000 (16.74 g)

50+

13-May-2008

RJB77873Eastern

19-Sep-2008

95%

-18°C

Location: BGA — the seeds are stored at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, MSB — the seeds are stored at the Millennium Seed Bank, Kew, England.Number of plants: This is the number of plants from which the seeds were collected.Collection location: The Herbarium of South Australia's region name.% Viability: Percentage of filled healthy seeds determined by a cut test or x-ray.